Instant-Death Cultivation: Surviving in an Immortal World with Instant Kill - Chapter 42

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 42: Subjugation War (5)

 

 

“You have a question?”

 

Taesa Ryang clicked his tongue inwardly.

 

He had planned to stealthily approach and launch a surprise attack, but with Cheon Woo-jin looking directly at him like this, it would be difficult to catch him off guard.

If Cheon Woo-jin were to bring out powerful Dharma Artifacts and resist, capturing him alive might become difficult.

 

“What are you curious about?”

“About the reward for this commission.”

 

Cheon Woo-jin spoke in a cold voice.

 

“Does it come from your pocket, senior?”

“What?”

 

Why would he be curious about that at a time like this?

 

“The reward for this job… comes from the Branch Hall’s budget.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, the Spirit Stones you received as advance payment were also stored at the Branch Hall.”

 

All necessary funds and materials should be procured from the Branch Hall.

That was the instruction from the Sacred Horn Unity Gate’s Main Hall.

 

“So the Main Hall isn’t providing support.”

“The Main Hall simply sent down one person – me. There was no other support.”

 

In the eyes of the Sacred Horn Unity Gate leadership, this matter was just a minor incident.

Sending down one True Transmission Disciple was sufficient; there was no reason to provide additional support.

 

“The Elders of Sacred Horn Unity Gate still seem to have little interest in the Lower Levels.”

“That’s right. They think things just need to continue as usual. Now that this matter is resolved, they’ll lose interest for a while.”

 

At that moment, Taesa Ryang felt a slight sense of unease.

It was because his tone sounded as if he knew the Elders of Sacred Horn Unity Gate well.

 

“You, perhaps…”

 

Just as he was trying to probe while observing Cheon Woo-jin’s reaction,

Taesa Ryang realized one fact.

 

This guy had shown no openings whatsoever from the start.

He was guarding against Taesa Ryang at exactly the same level as when facing Jeok Ya-wol.

 

“…!”

 

Taesa Ryang immediately stepped back.

 

Cheon Woo-jin had definitely noticed Taesa Ryang’s intentions.

He even seemed to be plotting something while hiding his true thoughts.

 

‘In this situation, I must subdue him immediately!’

 

Even if a surprise attack was difficult, if he used his full power right now, he should be able to neutralize Cheon Woo-jin.

With that thought, Taesa Ryang glared at Cheon Woo-jin and tried to deploy his Magic Arts.

 

However, the moment his eyes met Cheon Woo-jin’s,

Taesa Ryang felt his Spiritual Energy Circulation suddenly stop.

He couldn’t draw up even the slightest bit of Spiritual Power needed to deploy Magic Arts.

 

Why was this happening?

Had Cheon Woo-jin done something?

 

Feeling bewildered, Taesa Ryang tried to observe Cheon Woo-jin once more.

But the figure of Cheon Woo-jin, who had been making eye contact with him just moments before, was nowhere to be seen.

 

No, not just Cheon Woo-jin – he couldn’t see anything at all.

All his senses had died.

 

‘Could it be…’

 

Right now, he was facing death.

Understanding this fact belatedly, Taesa Ryang was horrified.

 

‘This can’t be!’

 

He cried out with a heart-wrenching feeling.

 

‘I am a True Transmission Disciple of Sacred Horn Unity Gate! I’m someone who will reach the Origin Spirit Realm within 100 years and become a being everyone looks up to!’

 

Taesa Ryang had no intention whatsoever of ending his life at the Foundation Establishment stage.

He planned to reach the Origin Spirit Realm by any means necessary.

Ultimately, he was even considering reaching the Avatar Realm and challenging ascension.

He had pride in being qualified for such achievements.

 

‘The value of my life is different from those lowly disciples! My life is more valuable than hundreds of Inner Sect or Outer Sect Disciples! So why…!’

 

Feeling his consciousness growing dim, Taesa Ryang screamed until the very end.

 

‘Why is my life being taken away in a place like this…!’

 

Why had the heavens given him such a fate?

That was Taesa Ryang’s final thought before meeting complete death.

 

* * *

 

Thud.

Taesa Ryang collapsed to the ground.

 

Coincidentally, falling rocks from the ceiling damaged his corpse.

The underground cave was collapsing, so rocks had been continuously falling since earlier.

 

‘I did well to save the Instant Death Heaven Eye.’

 

Cheon Woo-jin had not used the Instant Death Heaven Eye on Jeok Ya-wol earlier.

He thought he might face an attack from Taesa Ryang after killing Jeok Ya-wol.

As it turned out, that thought proved correct.

 

‘He was suspicious from the beginning.’

 

Taesa Ryang’s heavenly mandate was ‘Greed Path,’ meaning extreme avarice.

So he had been thinking that someday Taesa Ryang would reveal his true nature and bare his fangs at Cheon Woo-jin.

That moment was right now.

 

Earlier, Taesa Ryang had been secretly hiding and watching the fight between Cheon Woo-jin and Jeok Ya-wol.

Even when his body had mostly recovered, he never tried to join the battle, only observing quietly with eyes flashing with greed.

It was obvious he was plotting something sinister.

 

And after revealing himself and confronting Cheon Woo-jin… he looked at Cheon Woo-jin with evil eyes no better than those of the Demonic Path.

 

‘You died because of your own greed, Taesa Ryang.’

 

If Taesa Ryang had not revealed his ambitions and planned for the future instead, he would not have died here.

But because he could not control his greed and immediately tried to attack Cheon Woo-jin, he lost his life.

 

‘But don’t worry, Taesa Ryang.’

 

Cheon Woo-jin spoke to Taesa Ryang in his mind.

 

‘I’ll tell them you fought fiercely with Jeok Ya-wol and achieved Mutual Destruction.’

 

Taesa Ryang had to be the one who killed Jeok Ya-wol.

It must not be revealed that Cheon Woo-jin, who was merely at the Qi Refining stage, had defeated a Demonic Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage.

If the Sacred Horn Unity Gate learned of this fact, they would obviously try to control Cheon Woo-jin.

 

Establishing a full relationship with the Sacred Horn Unity Gate should wait until after he became much stronger.

He had to use the situation where they showed no interest in the Lower Levels to build up his strength as much as possible.

 

‘I’ll take care of your corpse.’

 

First, he cleared away the fallen rocks that had crushed Taesa Ryang’s body.

The corpse was severely damaged, but thanks to that, it became difficult to determine what the cause of death had been.

 

Even if the Sacred Horn Unity Gate investigated directly, they would find nothing.

They would have no choice but to conclude that he had died fighting Jeok Ya-wol and was then crushed by falling rocks afterward.

 

After roughly arranging Taesa Ryang’s corpse, Cheon Woo-jin also collected the Dharma Artifact and Storage Bag that had fallen to the ground.

Normally he would have taken them as spoils of war, but in a case like today’s, he had to return them to the Sacred Horn Unity Gate.

 

“…?”

 

Then something strange caught his eye.

A piece of paper was visible between Taesa Ryang’s torn sleeves.

 

Cheon Woo-jin reached out and pulled out that paper.

It was about half torn, but he could still make out what was written on it.

 

“…”

 

What was written on the paper was a meaningless string of characters.

No matter how learned a person might be, they would not be able to figure out what meaning was contained in these characters.

 

However, Cheon Woo-jin had already realized what these characters were.

 

‘I thought the enlightenment I gained from facing Jeok Ya-wol was sufficient.’

 

Today, Cheon Woo-jin had gained great enlightenment.

Inspired by seeing Jeok Ya-wol use Black Flames, he was able to elevate his Black Lightning Energy to a higher realm.

That was a more valuable achievement than obtaining one or two Dharma Artifacts.

 

So he had been thinking it would be fine to return empty-handed today.

But at this moment, that thought changed.

 

‘I need to take this.’

 

Cheon Woo-jin hid the paper with the mysterious character string in his robes.

 

It was the most valuable item among all the spoils of war he had obtained so far.

 

* * *

 

“F-fortunately, I managed to save my life.”

 

Jin Su-hak, an Inner Sect Disciple of the Sacred Horn Unity Gate Branch Hall, leaned his body against a rock and let out a sigh.

 

In fact, Jin Su-hak had also nearly died after being caught up in Jeok Ya-wol’s Black Flames like the other Inner Sect Disciples.

However, seeing Tae Sa-ryeong deploy Defensive Magic, he threw his body behind him and was able to minimize the damage.

 

Although he had completely lost one leg and parts of his body had melted away, he was still alive.

Since he had stopped the bleeding while taking elixirs, the bleeding had now stopped as well.

 

“I wonder what happened to Senior Brother Taesa…”

 

He had seen up to the point where Tae Sa-ryeong talked with Cheon Woo-jin about something and then clashed with Jeok Ya-wol alone.

But he didn’t know what happened after that.

It was because Taesa Ryang and Jeok Ya-wol had been running around fighting throughout the vast cave.

For Jin Su-hak, who was lying collapsed having lost one leg, there was nothing he could know except that the battle was continuing somewhere.

 

“Perhaps they went too far, as from the middle point onward, I couldn’t sense anything at all…”

 

Then the cave itself began to collapse.

At first, he thought he would be crushed to death, but fortunately the Domain was dispelled and Black Secluded Valley reappeared.

 

Now there were many corpses scattered around the area.

Many Inner Disciples of the Sacred Horn Unity Gate and Demonic Cultivators of the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect had died.

 

What felt bitter was that there were more people who had been unilaterally massacred by transcendent power than those who had fought fiercely and died gloriously in battle.

Especially among the Demonic Cultivators, many had died caught up in the black flames of their superior, Jeok Ya-wol.

 

“Still… I survived.”

 

Today’s injuries would all heal if he took time to treat them.

He had lost one leg, but even that wouldn’t be a problem if he attached a prosthetic Dharma Artifact.

 

Just surviving this devastating battle would earn Jin Su-hak people’s respect.

Perhaps the Sacred Horn Unity Gate Main Hall would even designate Jin Su-hak as a True Transmission Disciple.

 

“But did I really survive all alone?”

 

Not only Taesa Ryang, but Jeok Ya-wol and Cheon Woo-jin were nowhere to be seen.

 

“Don’t tell me all three of them died…”

 

A situation where Taesa Ryang, Jeok Ya-wol, and Cheon Woo-jin had all perished together.

That was the most welcome situation from Jin Su-hak’s perspective.

Because he could monopolize all the achievements.

When reporting to his superiors, if he embellished his own role, he could obtain even greater rewards.

 

Just as Jin Su-hak was indulging in such pleasant fantasies.

A rustling sound came from a corner of the valley.

 

“…!”

 

Cheon Woo-jin was slowly walking over.

And he was in perfect condition without a single wound.

 

“H-how is this possible?”

 

Jin Su-hak couldn’t believe it.

What on earth had he done to be the only one in such perfect condition?

 

“The other people are…”

“See for yourself.”

 

Whoosh!

Cheon Woo-jin moved his hand.

Then a blood-soaked corpse that had been floating behind Cheon Woo-jin flew toward him.

 

“Ugh?!”

 

Though heavily damaged, it was definitely Taesa Ryang’s corpse.

 

Taesa Ryang had become such a miserable corpse, yet Cheon Woo-jin had returned alive in perfect condition without a single wound.

What could this mean?

 

“H-how did this happen?”

“What do you think?”

 

Cheon Woo-jin responded to Jin Su-hak’s question with a cold attitude.

 

“What do you think it is, Jin Su-hak.”

 

Hearing that cold voice, Jin Su-hak felt his breathing somehow becoming rapid.

 

The thought occurred to him that this rootless mercenary nobody he had been constantly looking down on might actually be an existence incomparably greater than himself.

 

* * *

 

Jeok Ya-wol, who had been the leader of the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect, was dead.

Taesa Ryang, a True Transmission Disciple of the Sacred Horn Unity Gate, had sacrificed his own life to bring down Jeok Ya-wol.

 

That news spread throughout the entire Ghost Head City Lower Levels in an instant.

Many people were amazed to learn that the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect, which had advanced into Ghost Head City with great momentum, had been annihilated overnight.

 

Meanwhile, the cultivators who had been seduced by the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect and entered the Demonic Path immediately became prey.

Scattered Cultivators swarmed in groups to attack the Demonic Cultivators, plundering everything including their lives.

The Dao Yo Gate, which had gone under the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect, was also completely annihilated after being attacked by the Dragon Domination Society.

 

Amidst all this, a certain rumor began to spread throughout the Ghost Head City Lower Levels.

That there was one mercenary who had returned alive without a single wound from that devastating battlefield where countless people had died.

That the reason they had been able to bring down Jeok Ya-wol, who had displayed overwhelming power using the Legacy of the Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace, was because that mercenary had helped Taesa Ryang and played a decisive role.

 

Perhaps it wasn’t Taesa Ryang who brought down Jeok Ya-wol, but that mercenary…

Such rumors were spreading rapidly.

 

“Your market value is rising tremendously.”

 

Seo Seol-ryeong said to Cheon Woo-jin, who had visited the shop, with a face full of smiles.

Since it was a face he was seeing for the first time, Cheon Woo-jin was momentarily at a loss for words.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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